The United States congress has battled over proposed asbestos legislation ever since the mid-1970s when the first official legislative mention of asbestos related disease was discussed during the passage of the Black Lung Bill. Asbestos is the name of a group of fibers that are harmful and potentially carcinogenic when ingested or inhaled. Mesothelioma, the cancer that can develop because of asbestos exposure, claims the lives of 10,000 people each year. Asbestosis and a variety of other non-cancerous serious health conditions are also caused by asbestos exposure.

Asbestos legislation is shaped and influenced by a number of other government bodies including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and many interests groups. In the last decade, asbestos legislation has been introduced to congress nearly each year, as the battle between asbestos victim's rights and protection of businesses rages on.

Concern about the health dangers of asbestos, which can cause fatal cancer and other serious diseases, is the driving force behind public, legislative, and legal concern regarding asbestos legislation. In 1999, the Supreme Court ruled against a multi-billion dollar class action asbestos lawsuit because it compromised victim's rights. The Court proclaimed that it is up to the Congress to pass asbestos legislation that would move lawsuits through the system more efficiently without compromising the rights of asbestos victims.

The Fairness in Asbestos Compensation Act of 1999 was proposed in order to create a government body responsible for trying to resolve asbestos lawsuits before they reached the court system, thereby mitigating the burdensome number of asbestos lawsuits clogging the court system. The Asbestos Compensation Act of 2000 would have created an Office of Asbestos Compensation within the Department of Justice and made a Compensation Fund available to pay victims of asbestos health problems if they met certain medical criteria.

In July 2003, the Asbestos Claims Criteria and Compensation Act passed in the Senate but did not receive the support necessary to become a law. This asbestos legislation was intended to create a privately financed national trust fund to help compensate asbestos victims providing that they met certain rigid medical criteria. Critics of this bill were concerned that the fund would limit the rights of many asbestos victims and preclude many legitimate victims from receiving the support they should be afforded.

In 2004, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act was proposed. This asbestos legislation would create a $124 billion fund for asbestos victims in order to speed up the compensation process. This asbestos legislation is criticized because it too compromises victim' rights. The asbestos legislation battle continues as trial lawyers want to retain the right to bring asbestos lawsuits (600,000 have been filed in the US alone) while businesses want immunity from such suits. Asbestos legislation has become a pivotal issue in the federal government, the outcome of which has yet to be decided.

To find out more about asbestos legislation, please Contact an Asbestos Attorney familiar with mesothelioma and asbestos law cases.